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Friday, May 13, 2011

Living Nazca Lines and the Cross

I do not believe that God causes suffering, pain, loss or hurt. I do believe that He desires to transform it, to bring healing and redemptive beauty out of everything that that would be used to destroy our hearts. Most of the time, I don't understand how He does it, because it usually allows more pain than I would choose, and my sense of timing is finite. In short, I want Heaven right now!

I get angry. I get confused. I sometimes scream at God that this life is just too messy. And that isn't only about the big things. I get bewildered, discouraged and disgruntled with the small, everyday inconveniences, too. But, when I stop and breathe in peace and love, I recognize that we are living Nazca lines.

Have you ever been to Peru? The Nazca lines are amazing. On the ground, they are so enormous that they are unrecognizable. They just look like minor differences in the terrain. But if you get an aerial view, you can see fascinating pictures!

The Bible has an awesome example of a living Nazca line in the Old Testament. You know those really boring chapters in Numbers? The ones where you start to skim quickly because it is just a bunch of, well, numbers? Each of the tribes of Israel had a specific place to be. They were assigned a particular order.

Now, if you imagine the huge number of people and animals moving through the wilderness, it probably seemed a bit chaotic from the ground. Picture the dust they all kicked up! When you get a group that size, even when it is very orderly, it probably looked like a sprawling mass from the ground. But guess what? If you looked at it from above, you would see that the arrangement of the tribes formed a special picture. A Cross.

From the very beginning of the story, when it looked messy and dusty, God looked and saw the redemption that was coming! And I believe that that is true of our lives, as well. When we look at the broken pieces, the hurts, the disappointments, and our own messiness, we are missing God's view of us. He sees us as holy, redeemed, beautiful and full of loving purpose! We are living Nazca lines, creating a lovely picture of restoration, wholeness, love, life and beauty.